News

Torfaen council faces £6m cuts a year

TORFAEN taxpayers face bigger cuts than anticipated after ministers unveiled drastic plans to slash council funding by up to 4.5 per cent in the next three years – significantly more than expected.

Torfaen council could be forced to cut £6 million from its services each year until 2018, it has been said, to offset the funding reduction driven by the rising cost of the NHS.

They unveiled the new austerity programme yesterday after Torfaen councillors cut £11 million in a radical package of cost-saving measures in March.

At the same time, they approved inflation-busting council tax increases of 3.95 per cent.

Council leader Bob Wellington said yesterday the local authority would be faced with “very difficult choices” delivering services and protecting council jobs.

His colleague Cllr Anthony Hunt indicated the Welsh Government funding cuts could put the council “on a downward spiral of austerity” leaving the authority with just £50m to pay for vital services like rubbish collections and libraries.

Cllr Wellington said: “The potential for reductions in Welsh Government funding of up to 4.5 per cent has increased significantly from the 1.5 per cent cash reductions we were told to prepare for. This now presents the council with some very difficult future choices in terms of delivering services and protecting the jobs of the people who deliver these services.”

Cllr Hunt, the executive member for resources, said: “In this downward spiral of austerity, the Welsh Government have been given £2 billion less to share between Welsh public services. If we continue to protect the £96 million for schools and social care, then our scope for savings falls on a much smaller figure of £50 million.”

Cwmbran 50+ Forum delegate Pat Parsons, 67, said yesterday: “I think we are going to be relying on the voluntary sector more.”

Comments (6)

As posted yesterday; Torfaen council only think of themselves, they are unable to make decisions that affect them, they constantly waste money and then blame others for their own incompetence.
Why don't Torfaen start by cutting the £8.5K all the Labour councillors get for the Special Committee allowances and go back to the standard councillor allowance?
Why should the taxpayer pay for Comrade Bob's broadband, surely his £45K+ per year is enough to pay for his own.
Why are we paying the top executives £100K salaries with benefits when there are only 92,000 citizens living in Torfaen.
Why are there nearly as many council workers in Torfaen as there are in Newport, yet Newport is twice as big as Torfaen?
Why don't the council try selling the £4.5M of IT equipment it has overspent on and been keeping in storage?
Why not sack the person who had the idea to suspend an employee on £75K per year for 2.5 years and then testify in his defence?
Why don't the WAG implement the Williams report recommendations and reduce the number of councils from 22 to 10?
Answer: They're both Labour run.

As posted yesterday; Torfaen council only think of themselves, they are unable to make decisions that affect them, they constantly waste money and then blame others for their own incompetence.
Why don't Torfaen start by cutting the £8.5K all the Labour councillors get for the Special Committee allowances and go back to the standard councillor allowance?
Why should the taxpayer pay for Comrade Bob's broadband, surely his £45K+ per year is enough to pay for his own.
Why are we paying the top executives £100K salaries with benefits when there are only 92,000 citizens living in Torfaen.
Why are there nearly as many council workers in Torfaen as there are in Newport, yet Newport is twice as big as Torfaen?
Why don't the council try selling the £4.5M of IT equipment it has overspent on and been keeping in storage?
Why not sack the person who had the idea to suspend an employee on £75K per year for 2.5 years and then testify in his defence?
Why don't the WAG implement the Williams report recommendations and reduce the number of councils from 22 to 10?
Answer: They're both Labour run.Sometimes

Sometimes wrote:
As posted yesterday; Torfaen council only think of themselves, they are unable to make decisions that affect them, they constantly waste money and then blame others for their own incompetence.
Why don't Torfaen start by cutting the £8.5K all the Labour councillors get for the Special Committee allowances and go back to the standard councillor allowance?
Why should the taxpayer pay for Comrade Bob's broadband, surely his £45K+ per year is enough to pay for his own.
Why are we paying the top executives £100K salaries with benefits when there are only 92,000 citizens living in Torfaen.
Why are there nearly as many council workers in Torfaen as there are in Newport, yet Newport is twice as big as Torfaen?
Why don't the council try selling the £4.5M of IT equipment it has overspent on and been keeping in storage?
Why not sack the person who had the idea to suspend an employee on £75K per year for 2.5 years and then testify in his defence?
Why don't the WAG implement the Williams report recommendations and reduce the number of councils from 22 to 10?
Answer: They're both Labour run.

Also,why not sell Bobs baby,the community farm since it's running at a £400,000 loss each year.No private enterprise would survive with losses like that !

[quote][p][bold]Sometimes[/bold] wrote:
As posted yesterday; Torfaen council only think of themselves, they are unable to make decisions that affect them, they constantly waste money and then blame others for their own incompetence.
Why don't Torfaen start by cutting the £8.5K all the Labour councillors get for the Special Committee allowances and go back to the standard councillor allowance?
Why should the taxpayer pay for Comrade Bob's broadband, surely his £45K+ per year is enough to pay for his own.
Why are we paying the top executives £100K salaries with benefits when there are only 92,000 citizens living in Torfaen.
Why are there nearly as many council workers in Torfaen as there are in Newport, yet Newport is twice as big as Torfaen?
Why don't the council try selling the £4.5M of IT equipment it has overspent on and been keeping in storage?
Why not sack the person who had the idea to suspend an employee on £75K per year for 2.5 years and then testify in his defence?
Why don't the WAG implement the Williams report recommendations and reduce the number of councils from 22 to 10?
Answer: They're both Labour run.[/p][/quote]Also,why not sell Bobs baby,the community farm since it's running at a £400,000 loss each year.No private enterprise would survive with losses like that !irisheyes

Well, unless Torfaen cuts our garbage collection, whatever cuts it makes will have no effect where In live, we get absolutely nowt out of it anyway.

We csee police ONLY when someone calls 999,

Our Road gets swept once a year, maybe.

Our road has not seen a new surface for over thirty two years ( the length of time I've lived here).

On rare occasions, no doubt after a heap of complaints are made, the gullys and ditches running to overflowing, get a looking at, and some minor cleaning out takes place, again maybe bi annually.
I feel I ma getting short changed, but if I decided to withhold my rates until some visible works wee attended to, I'd get prosecuted.
Why can I not have the same ability?

I did try, so no remarks about it, I was told there would be no point in even attempting it as councils have some sort of immunity against a ratepayer trying a legal stab at them.

Well, unless Torfaen cuts our garbage collection, whatever cuts it makes will have no effect where In live, we get absolutely nowt out of it anyway.
We csee police ONLY when someone calls 999,
Our Road gets swept once a year, maybe.
Our road has not seen a new surface for over thirty two years ( the length of time I've lived here).
On rare occasions, no doubt after a heap of complaints are made, the gullys and ditches running to overflowing, get a looking at, and some minor cleaning out takes place, again maybe bi annually.
I feel I ma getting short changed, but if I decided to withhold my rates until some visible works wee attended to, I'd get prosecuted.
Why can I not have the same ability?
I did try, so no remarks about it, I was told there would be no point in even attempting it as councils have some sort of immunity against a ratepayer trying a legal stab at them.varteg1

Any local council should be able to take 10% out of their budget without affecting core services. We need local councils to properly work together to eliminate duplication. Does each local council really need to run its own call centre? Does each council need to run education etc. Do we need as many councillors as we have? 30% of them could be axed

Any local council should be able to take 10% out of their budget without affecting core services. We need local councils to properly work together to eliminate duplication. Does each local council really need to run its own call centre? Does each council need to run education etc. Do we need as many councillors as we have? 30% of them could be axedBobevans

Bobevans wrote:
Any local council should be able to take 10% out of their budget without affecting core services. We need local councils to properly work together to eliminate duplication. Does each local council really need to run its own call centre? Does each council need to run education etc. Do we need as many councillors as we have? 30% of them could be axed

bob we are talking about a labour led wasteful counil

[quote][p][bold]Bobevans[/bold] wrote:
Any local council should be able to take 10% out of their budget without affecting core services. We need local councils to properly work together to eliminate duplication. Does each local council really need to run its own call centre? Does each council need to run education etc. Do we need as many councillors as we have? 30% of them could be axed[/p][/quote]bob we are talking about a labour led wasteful counilscraptheWAG

Bobevans wrote:
Any local council should be able to take 10% out of their budget without affecting core services. We need local councils to properly work together to eliminate duplication. Does each local council really need to run its own call centre? Does each council need to run education etc. Do we need as many councillors as we have? 30% of them could be axed

bob we are talking about a labour led wasteful counil

And I guess your UKIP lot will do any better?

Most councils are in hock ,administratively, to central government, and at that level they're all as bad as each other, but I guess you'll be rooting for Farage with his non manifesto nonsense.

The one council that tried to rock the boat, Clay Cross, in Derbyshire, got members jailed for challenging the system.

Want your lot to try it again?

I promise to visit them in Strangeways HMP

[quote][p][bold]scraptheWAG[/bold] wrote:
[quote][p][bold]Bobevans[/bold] wrote:
Any local council should be able to take 10% out of their budget without affecting core services. We need local councils to properly work together to eliminate duplication. Does each local council really need to run its own call centre? Does each council need to run education etc. Do we need as many councillors as we have? 30% of them could be axed[/p][/quote]bob we are talking about a labour led wasteful counil[/p][/quote]And I guess your UKIP lot will do any better?
Most councils are in hock ,administratively, to central government, and at that level they're all as bad as each other, but I guess you'll be rooting for Farage with his non manifesto nonsense.
The one council that tried to rock the boat, Clay Cross, in Derbyshire, got members jailed for challenging the system.
Want your lot to try it again?
I promise to visit them in Strangeways HMPvarteg1